Solis Aeterna

Adeptus Mechanicus Sage

Description:

Bio:

Much of Mankind’s mastery over technology has been
forgotten, and what remains are closely guarded secrets,
held in jealous hands of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Wrapped up in superstitious beliefs and rites, the knowledge of
how to operate the Imperium’s most advanced devices falls to these
followers of the Machine God. The Adeptus Mechanicus guards
and oversees the ancient knowledge and the mysteries of making
technology function, for even its dogmatic and superstitious
understandings are far beyond those of anyone else in the
Imperium. They embrace technology to such a degree that they
try to transcend the flesh of their bodies with the purity of metal.
To those outside the Mechanicum, they can appear unfeeling and
emotionless, more akin to their blessed machines than to other
humans, and most would welcome such views.

From the depths of the Imperium’s greatest cities to the engine
rooms of its grand interstellar navy, it is the duty of the Adeptus
Mechanicus to preserve and maintain the great technological works
of man. Once a Tech-Priest has been trained and taken his oaths to
the Omnissiah, he is dispatched to tend to some part of these great
works, spending his years intoning the sacred prayers and rituals
that keep a machine’s spirit alive and functioning. Some move
beyond these simple processes of maintenance, rising in the ranks
of the order to take on more responsibility or expertise. Others
aid war efforts directly as Enginseers for the Imperial Guard.
They may rule one of the many forge worlds, vital to feeding
the Imperium’s insatiable appetite for war machines and other
materiel. They could also serve as part of an Explorator Fleet in
the holy quest for legendary Standard Template Constructs dating
to the pre-Imperial Dark Age of Technology. Equally, they might
engage in xenos research on the foes of the Imperium,
such as the voracious Tyranids or the brutal Orks. A few might
command their own outposts and stations, becoming lords
of their own domains and devoting their long lives to the personal pursuit
of technological mastery.
Others, such as forge labourers or adept minions, have lesser functions.
Most aspire to one day join the Tech-Priesthood, so that they may better
serve the Omnissiah. Rarely, some might reject the Machine God and seek
lives elsewhere, but still retain more skills and familiarity with technology than
almost anyone else in the Imperium. Many within the Cult Mechanicus
aspire to become as close to the Machine God as possible, slowly enhancing their
bodies with mechanical components until they are more metal than flesh. This can
make them devoid of emotion, as they embrace the cold logic of the Machine
God they serve, and sometimes put them at odds with others around
them.

Role

Just as it relies on psykers, the Imperium could not
function without the presence of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and
whether its citizens favour a servant of the Omnissiah or merely tolerate
him, they could not survive without his knowledge and skills.
Information is everywhere, writ across the many worlds of the
Imperium in the movements and structures of its societies and
the staggering data stores of the Adeptus Administratum. Sage
characters can draw upon this information, whether they are
members of the Administratum or another of the Imperium’s
great organisations. Sages of the Adeptus Mechanicus on hive and
forge worlds are constantly linked to the ebb and flow of figures
that crosses their world, gigatonnes of parchment, or even purely
aetherical information streams that exist without physical form.
Drawn into the web of data, they exist only to learn and reach
deeper and deeper into the lore of the Imperium. After coming to
the notice of an Inquisitor, Sages can move on to more valuable
pastures of information, and should they prove mentally strong
enough, can immerse themselves in the endless well of secrets over
which the Inquisition resides.
Those with other origins often have different functions,
becoming chroniclers and lore keepers of their own world’s history
and secrets. A voidborn Sage might have absorbed all there is to
know about the class of vessel or type of station on which his
clan lives, and much about the movement of the stars themselves.
A feral world Sage might be a storyteller or bard to his people,
collecting centuries of tales and legends, as well as a wealth of lore
about its plants, wildlife, and weather patterns. A shrine world
Sage likely served as a scholar of the Imperial Creed, and knows
extensively about the saint his world is famed for, to the point
where his specific knowledge on the subject outstrips even that of
the local Ministorum hierarchy. In all these forms, a Sage is the
most learned of his people, well-known if not necessarily wellrespected
for his obsessive gifts for analysing and extracting the
endless data that defines the Imperium.